Ancient Ties
by Ezra Amoura
Summary: Kita Kinomoto moves to live with her mother's friend after her parents' death. While there, she finds out a little bit about herself and goes on a journey to find her true happiness.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The trees turned to green blurs before Kita's sleepy eyes. She had been riding on the train for what seemed like forever, and she had watched as the tall buildings of the city had given way to flat grasslands that had then been overrun by dense forests. She was tired of sitting on the train, not knowing exactly where she was headed, with no one to talk to, and nothing to keep her attention except for the tattered letter in her hand. She had read it and reread it more times than she could count, and the folds in the paper were worn and the paper itself felt more like a cloth than paper. Tired of the endless blur of green outside her window, Kita unfolded the letter again.

_Dear Kita,_

_ I am sorry to hear of the death of your parents, this must have come as a shock to everyone in your family, including myself. My name is Funaho Li, I am a friend of your mother's. When we were young I promised her that I would take care of the things important to her should anything happen to her, just as she promised to do the same for me. News of her death reached me not too long ago, you must understand that I live in a relatively isolated town, we do not receive news too quickly. As soon as I received the news, I wrote to your present guardian right away. I have informed your family of your mother's wishes to have me look after her loved ones when she passed away, and because your beloved father is deceased as well, that leaves only you for me to look after. I have sent a train ticket with this letter for you to come live with me in my home in LakeFort, I will have a ride sent to the train station to collect you and your things when the train arrives. I look forward to seeing you when you arrive._

_Sincerely,_

_Funaho Li_

Kita folded the letter and turned back to the window. Rain had started to fall, turning her blurred green scenery to a hazy grey. The girl rested her head on the window and let her heavy eyelids close over her eyes. The past few months had been weary for her, she had been bouncing around from house to house of her relatives, none had seemed too keen on letting her permanently stay there. She supposed it was a good thing as well as a bad thing her mother's friend had sent notice. She now had a permanent home to look forward to, but this woman lived supposedly in the middle of nowhere, where she knew her relatives would never come to visit her. She opened her eyes one last time to glance at the time on her watch before letting herself drift into much needed sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The train jostled and screeched to a halt, shaking Kita from her deep sleep. The train had served as an uncomfortable bed, and the crick she had in her neck was her reward for falling asleep. Kita cursed out loud as the whistle of the train blew and the blurred shapes of trees slowly became distinguishable again. Kita took a quick glance at her watch before rising to gather her belongings, she had been asleep for three hours.

Kita read the letter she had already read a million times one last time and shoved it into the pocket of her jeans. She didn't realize exactly how much stuff she had packed with her, nor did she realize just how much her relatives had helped her get her things on the train then she did when she was trying to get the rest of her bags off. Kita pulled desperately at the handles to her heavy suitcases, trying to get them to budge out of the small space they had been crammed into. However, none of them would budge, save for a few millimeters, no matter how hard she pulled at them.

"Miss, would you like me to help you with those bags?" A voice from behind Kita made her turn around, only to be overwhelmed in the shadow of a rather tall man dressed from head to toe in black. Even this man's hair was black, and to top it all off, Kita noted sarcastically, he sported a pair of thin black shades.

"I can get my things just fine," Kita said turning back to her luggage. She was determined to do it by herself, she had always done things on her own when she lived in the city with her parents, and now that they were dead, everything they taught her about independence was not going to be thrown to the wind.

"Miss Kinomoto, I believe," The tall man addressed Kita by her last name. "Miss Li would be very upset with me should I be late in delivering you to her door, please, allow me to help you with your things."

Kita stared at the man and gave her luggage a final tug before giving up. She stepped aside and let the "Grim Reaper" as she had decided to call him, take a chance at budging her luggage.

To the teen's surprise, the tall man gave a fierce yank at the top suitcase and pulled it free. He calmly set it down on the floor and pulled the other suitcase out with it. Kita just stood and watched as he took one suitcase in each hand and walked off the train as silently as he had boarded it. Kita chased after the man, thinking about yelling at him for wandering off with her luggage, but she held her tongue remembering how tall he was.

The ride to Funaho Li's home was a long and bumpy one. Kita had gotten over her initial shock and disappointment at seeing and having to ride in a horse drawn carriage. We're in the age of automobiles, subways, and airplanes, what have I done so wrong to deserve a bumpy carriage and a smelly horse, she kept asking herself. Her tall darkly clad companion did not seem to mind the ride, however, and more than once she thought she saw him crack a smile at her apparent suffering. She cursed the strange man ten times over, but in her head of course. She tried to divert her attention to the scenery around her. She had to admit, it would have been pretty if she was riding in the backseat of a limo, or even in a convertable, the trees were thick and densely covered in leaves, and small patches of wildflowers grew on the sides of the brick road.

"This is ridiculous," she muttered to herself angrily. "If I have died and gone to hell, hell shouldn't look like Oz."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The tall butler smiled to himself at the city girl's frustration and disappointment. There would be a lot of new changes for her to adapt to in her new home and he would just sit back and enjoy all of them. He had been a 'hired hand' for Miss Li for a number of years, more than he could recall clearly. His family had been in service to hers for as long as his oldest relative could even remember, and being the youngest, he now had to work for the successor to the Li family name.

"In just a few minutes, you should be able to see the gates to Miss Li's home," he mentioned to his passenger as if their drive had only been a few short minutes previously.

The City Girl, as the butler found himself referring to her as stood up in her seat as the wrought iron gates came into view. She looked at the place and whistled low, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand to get a look at the grounds around the home.

"Home my ass, this place is a mansion," Kita said, leaning forward in the seat.

"Welcome to Li Manor, this will be your new home from now on."

Kita turned to the dark clad driver. "I never knew my mother hung out with such high class people, I can get used to this."

The Manor was a two leveled building with a main entrance and two wings that reached out until the forest came up to meet them on the sides. A series of large oriental arches enclosed the stone walkway to the front doors. The entire home was painted a warm beige, and over the windows were crimson shutters. A small stream trickled underneath a small bridge just before the front door and disappeared into the forest. The roof of the manor bored deep red tiles, and each corner of the roof angled gently upward.

The carriage stopped at the bottom of the walkway to let its occupants out. Kita looked up the gentle hill and the many stone steps to the front door, and glanced back at her luggage. She then turned to look at the butler with a look of utter horror. She grew angry as the man smiled kindly at her.

"The steps are good for your heart, I suggest you start walking."

Kita stared after the butler as he took the steps like they were nothing, and he was still lugging her baggage, one suitcase under each arm. She sighed, she was used to taking taxis and the subway everywhere, but she guessed she could make an exception just this once and walk up the steps.

The door to the manor was opened and two smiling faces were there to greet the travelers before either reached the door. The first out the door was a young girl about Kita's height with black hair down to the middle of her back. Her hair was pulled up to form two meatball looking buns on the sides of her head, with the rest of her hair hanging down from them. Kita stared at her as she bound down the stone steps. No, Kita corrected herself, this girl didn't bound down the steps in a happy bubbly kind of way, she _bounced_ down them, as if each step was spring loaded. Kita smiled to herself as she thought about the girl being launched into the air and hitting her head on one of the archways. That would make her bounce a little less, Kita thought.

The next woman out the door was dressed in an elegant kimono of dark blue and green. This woman had the air of riches and royalty about her. However, there was a smile on her face too. To Kita's relief, this woman did no bouncing of any kind, instead, she seemed to glide down the sloping steps. It didn't seem to matter to her that the steps were rough stone, nor that they slanted on the hill, she walked over all of them as if they were smooth as glass. The woman stopped to say something quietly to the butler, who turned around to face Kita once he was well behind the woman and her train of silk. The bouncy girl stopped, turned around, and bounced to the elegant woman's side.

"You must be Miss Kita Kinomoto. You have already met my hired hand, Zima, and this is my niece, Meilin, she motioned towards the girl who had stopped bouncing for the time being. I am Funaho Li, and I would like to welcome you to Li Manor." The woman bowed slightly and outstretched her arm, motioning towards the home and grounds behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Kita stirred in her bed and stared up at the silk curtains surrounding her bed. She had been tired after her long train ride, and then the bumpy carriage ride, and then she had to trek herself up a flight of stone steps that seemed to go on forever. To top it all off, she was living next door to a young woman who had more bounce in her than an overinflated dodge ball. She had found out the Grim Reaper's name was Zima, and he had taken off the shady glasses as Miss Li introduced him, to reveal sparkling deep red eyes. Once they had all been ushered back into the manor by Miss Li, they had all sat down to a light meal. Kita was surprised that Miss Li treated her 'hired hand' like a member of the family. He sat and ate with them, but did not say much. The bouncy Meilin seemed to bubble over with pride that she was the one who got to sit next to Kita. Kita had groaned in her mind about the unfavorable seating arrangement. She had hoped to sit next to Miss Li, hoping that some of her regal air would rub off onto herself. Sometime after the meal, Zima had carried her luggage up to the room she would be sleeping in, because when she retired there after sharing a few brief words with Miss Li, her luggage had been neatly laid on the bed so all she had to do was open the suitcases and put her things away.

"I guess having a big strong "hired hand" could come in handy for some reasons. It's nice to see he is not entirely useless, but why someone as regal as Miss Li would hire someone as shady as him, I will never know." Kita said aloud to herself.

"Kita, Kita, it's time for breakfast!"

Kita groaned and rolled over in the bed and let bouncing Meilin continue to bang her fists on the door.

"If you don't get up for breakfast now, I'm gonna kick your door down, then you'll be in trouble!" Meilin continued to abuse the door with her fists.

"Just break it down you bubbly little shrimp, I dare you," Kita hollered back at Meilin.

Kita screamed and jumped out of her bed as the door went flying through her room, Meilin after it, her leg extended in the air. The bouncy young woman stood calmly on top of the fallen door, staring at Kita, her hands on her hips.

"What is the matter with you, you freak?" Kita screamed.

Meilin narrowed her eyes at Kita. "For one, you dared me to, and I am not one to turn down an underestimated dare. For two, stop thinking my aunt is going to give you any sort of special treatment, she is not going to adorn you in silks and satin, and she is not going to treat you like a daughter. Furthermore, you are here to live, and perhaps grow up and make your own living, you are here because your mother knew your relatives would not want you. Do not go thinking for any moment that my aunt may leave you with any sort of inheritance nearing the extravagance of this manor. You are not a Li, and never will be." Meilin turned on her heal, giving the door a swift kick, sending it sliding under Kita's bed. "Oh," she turned around quickly. "Breakfast is being served now, not later, not when you feel like coming down to eat, now. So I suggest you make an appearance, since one would be respectful. Otherwise, your face might look like that door."

Kita glared at Meilin as she left. All bounciness had left her as she flew through the broken door. She had turned into some sort of intense person, who apparently had good kicking skills, Kita noted to herself, dragging the door out from under her bed.

Kita didn't bother changing out of her bedclothes as she shuffled down the stairs to the dining hall. She was surprised to see Miss Li dressed in another elegant kimono, her hair neatly done, her face lightly powdered. Meilin was even dressed for the day, Kita noted. Zima was still nowhere to be seen, she smiled to herself.

"Miss Kinomoto, perhaps you may have done things differently in your home, but I kindly ask that you present yourself for the morning meal dressed for the day. I feel it shows little self pride to allow others to see yourself in such disarray." Funaho said softly over her cup of tea.

Kita took her seat and apologized, promising that it would not happen again. She looked around the table, feigning confusion and politely asked where Zima was.

Funaho smiled over her cup, "Zima wakes up much earlier than I expect anyone else in my home to. He ate early this morning, and has gone to fetch the town witch for a meeting I have with her this afternoon." Miss Li set her glass down on a small porcelain dish. "I would like you to speak with her as well Miss Kinomoto. It is a tradition in my home to see the fortune teller every week." There was silence between the three as they ate their meals. Funaho never touched anything aside from her tea. "Oh, Miss Kinomoto," Funaho said softly over her glass as Kita was about to excuse herself from the table. "I do not greatly appreciate my aged home to suffer much abuse. I would like for you and Meilin to fix your broken door, as I believe the blame should be shared by the both of you equally. Besides, it seems to me the teamwork would do the both of you some good."


	5. Chapter 5

1Chapter 5

Teamwork, Kita thought, it's just as much my fault as it is hers, yeah right, she kept telling herself. As far as she was concerned, it was all Meilin's fault. She hadn't been the one stupid enough to break down the door, so why should she have to help the obnoxious brat fix it?

"How come you think you're better than me?" Meilin asked as they stood silently in the open doorway, looking into Kita's room. "You aren't wealthier than me, you don't dress any better than me, you haven't accomplished and amazing feats, so how come you, a girl with nothing, acts like she is better than me, who likewise, has nothing?"

Kita glared at Meilin, trying to determine if the girl was mocking her or not. "I don't think I'm better, I'm just much more mature than you are, and what do you mean, you have nothing? Look all around us, aren't you related to Miss Li, isn't all this, in some part, yours?"

"I almost wish I could say it is, but I am also glad that it isn't. Since Miss Li is still alive, none of this is mine, not even the dust on the mantlepiece belongs to me. But you know, I am kind of glad it doesn't, Miss Li has to keep up an impeccable appearance. Everyone in town knows who she is, and they make it their business to know as much of her business as they can get their ears or eyes on. I don't want or need that kind of attention, and even though whenever you see her, she is flawless to the 'T', I know otherwise."

Kita stared at Meilin some more, the girl stood perfectly still, her eyes looked as though they were staring into the room, but Kita thought perhaps they were someplace else. The girl from the city began to wonder if the bubbly, bouncy Meilin that she had met the previous afternoon had been a fake, a mask for the serious, brooding young woman who spoke to her now.

"Well, all I know is that you should stop your yapping and help me get this door fixed. You did happen to break it, if you do recall."

Zima had long since returned from retrieving the town psychic by the time the girls found a way to get along and get the door put back in place. They trudged down the stairs back to the dining room, disheveled hair and all, to inform Miss Li of the completion of their task.

"Meilin, Miss Kinomoto, I would like to introduce you to Miss Elda, the town psychic." Funaho said softly as the two sat down on either side of the low table.

Kita noticed right away how pretty Elda was. She had long blonde hair with short bangs. Her large, kind amber eyes shifted from one end of the table to the other, smiling at Kita, then Funaho, then Meilin. She wore a very filly pink dress that was cut quite low, with ribbons and frills billowing out around and behind her. Her hands were folded neatly around her porcelain tea cup, she hadn't downed a drop of it.

"It is in my understanding, Miss Li, that you would like me to meet with both Meilin and Miss Kinomoto alone as well. Am I correct?" Elda had a very soft, kind voice, slightly higher in pitch than Funaho's. She reminded Kita of some sort of dainty little flower in her pink dress.

"Yes Elda, if you would not mind, I would like you to meet with Meilin after we are finished with business, and then Miss Kinomoto."

Funaho and Elda rose from their seats and left the dining room and turned up the flight of stairs in front of the main entrance. Zima took Elda's seat once she had left the room and looked back and forth from Kita and Meilin. He sported the same long black coat and dark glasses as he did the day before.

"I hear you girl's had a bit of a disagreement this morning." Zima smiled.

"Please, not from you too, Zima," Meilin groaned.

"I only meant to tease. Elda told me all about it on our drive back to the manor. She also told me something very peculiar about the both of you girls, but I'll let her tell you herself." Zima smiled again, but mischievously this time.

Before Kita knew it, she was being escorted by Elda up the main flight of stairs to a small dark room on the top floor. It smelled of incense and light perfume, and was quite warm. It made Kita want to curl up on the floor and take a quick nap.

"I am sorry Kita, but no napping is allowed," Elda laughed softly at Kita's surprise. "You must remember, I am a psychic. Now, I have some very important things to tell you."

Kita stared at Elda as the psychic sat quietly for a moment, her eyes closed, her hands folded in her lap. When she opened her eyes and spoke, it made Kita uneasy, her eyes were hard and filled with power, and her voice was distant and darker somehow.

"Kita Kinomoto, do you know of the powers that flow through your veins? Passed to you from long ago by those who are no more. Soon, very soon, you will know, and soon you will show your potential, and your purpose. There are those who you are destined to meet, for now they sleep, locked from the sun forged by your family blood. But soon, they awake, and you must decide what fate will have in store. There is a friend by your side, but now your feelings hide, masked in anger and hate. Keep her near, and keep her dear for soon both of your paths will be clear. Although they may diverge and doubt will emerge the bond you forge now will determine if you meet on the other side of the darkness." Elda closed her eyes for a moment and let her words sink in to Kita. The city girl had begun to bob slightly to the psychic's words as they had become more melodious. She didn't understand what was being said very well, but it was easy for her to remember.

"Kinomoto," Elda took Kita's face in between her smooth pale hands. "Heed my words and follow your heart. Satins and silks may sparkle and dance, but blood and love are everlasting. You will meet me soon, very soon, but until then," Elda kissed Kita softly on the forehead then sat back on her pillow. When she opened her eyes again, they were soft, and the power had been drained out of them.

"I am terribly sorry, but how long have we been sitting here?" Elda said in her soft voice.

Kita glanced at her watch and didn't understand how the past hour had slipped away so quickly..


	6. Chapter 6

1Chapter 6

Kita and Meilin stood on the sloping stone steps, watching Elda descend the remaining steps to the waiting carriage below. She hadn't stayed very long after she and Kita had left their small dimly lit room. The psychic had stated that she was late for her next appointment, but now she moved as if time would stop and wait for her to get to her next appointment before resuming where it left off.

"Meilin, Miss Kinomoto, please come inside, I have gifts for the both of you.

The girls looked at each other, both confused and excited at the same time, and raced up the stone steps. Kita remembered how much she hated steps about halfway to the door when she had to stop and catch her breath before walking the rest of the way.

"Neither of you are fit to be called children anymore, I do believe. You may not have seen yourselves as children before this point, you are both seventeen, but in my household, I refuse to recognize anyone as an adult unless they have spoken with Miss Elda. The things she foretells are shrouded in mystery, and yet, they are far truer than you may ever know. There are things she foretells that will bear a heavy burden on you, and such a burden cannot be handled by mere children." Funaho stood off to the right hand side of the door and closed the door gently shut behind the girls. "This manor has been in the Li family for generations, and as adults, you both have the right to know a few things about this place."

Funaho led the girls through the dining room, past the kitchen, and to a small hallway off of the kitchen. There was a single door down the hallway, and it was bolted shut with a strange looking lock. The lock was shaped almost like the head of a bird. There was a curved beak, and the indentation of plumage from the back of its head, even the indentation of what appeared to be an eye. Funaho pulled a long chain from within the folds of her kimono. At the end of the chain was a large golden charm that matched the indentation of the lock. The mistress of the manor set the charm into the lock and gave it half a turn, then removed the 'key'.

The door creaked loudly as it swung inward. Cobwebs, dust, darkness, and a very musty smell met the three women once the door had swung completely in. Funaho withdrew a candle from her robes and lit it with a match drawn from another sleeve.

"It will be much brighter once everything inside is lit, but until then, this will have to suffice."

Meilin and Kita shrugged at one another, then followed Funaho into the dark room. The door swung shut behind the women with a loud creak and thud, making the two younger women jump.

"Hmmm, yes, perhaps I could have warned you about that, but never mind, wait here for just a moment, and try not to move too far, you might trip over something."

The flickering light that had become the only distinct feature about Funaho walked away from the girls and stopped about twenty paces from where the still shaken women stood. Funaho touched the flickering light of the candle against something on the wall, and the whole room burst into bright light.

The fire jumped around the room, creating a controlled circle around the women on the walls. Above their heads a bright chandelier shaped like a sun burst into flames. The girls looked around them in wonder. There were glass cases that held many outfits, most frilled and vibrant in color. There were strange books and cards hidden underneath the dust on top of their glass prisons, and at the far end of the room there were even...

"Tombs?" Meilin cried out, staring at the sarcophaguses set side by side at the far end of the room. A sword was clutched in the carved hands of one of the stone representations of the person within, and the other clutched a short staff, shaped like a winged star.

"Why do you have tombs, Aunt Li?" Meilin asked, walking warily over to them.

Maybe she didn't know the saying 'having skeletons in your closet' was only metaphorical, Kita laughed to herself. Her smile faded quickly along with the color in her skin when Funaho smiled simply and asked if they wanted her to open the tombs.

The young women stared at each other, and then back to Funaho, they both secretly wondered if perhaps she was crazy. However, there was a morbid sense in the both of them, and before they could really think of the repercussions of opening a creepy old tomb, they found themselves nodding.

Funaho grinned and slid the lids off of each of the sarcophaguses. Kita and Meilin looked inside each tomb and frowned.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Meilin cocked an eyebrow and turned to Funaho. "Clothes? Since when did clothes deserve any sort of burial?"

Kita stared down into the first tomb. It was completely empty except for a neatly folded emerald green outfit. Towards the head of the sarcophagus sat a green and gold trimmed hat. She ran her fingers over the material and felt herself choking back tears and an overwhelming sadness that had swept through her. She traced her fingers over the black and white emblem on the chest of the top, then let the material of the sash run through her hands.

"How come there are no bodies?" Meilin asked, staring into the second tomb which was completely empty. She knew she would have been upset if there actually were bodies in the tombs, but she had prepared herself for such a gruesome sight and was upset to be so let down.

"These tombs were made a long long time ago. They were built for an ancestor of the Li clan, and for one of the Kinomoto family. Unforseen circumstances kept them from being buried side by side in these tombs."

Kita looked up from the tomb and turned to Funaho. "Please, can I pick it up?"

Meilin cocked her eyebrow again at her aunt's nod and look of sympathy. "How come they weren't buried by each other?"

Funaho smiled sadly and watched Kita clutch the emerald tunic top to her chest. "Two things were not met that had to be. One,"

"They had to die together," Kita said softly.

Miss Li studied Kita carefully, there was something different about the young woman. It might always have been there, she supposed, or perhaps it was simply the past that had brought about the change in Kita's deep green eyes. Her brown hair fell long down her back and into her face a little bit as she bowed her head. Funaho turned back to Meilin who was tapping her foot impatiently.

"The second is that she never said 'I love you'."

"That's kind of ridiculous if you ask me. How come she couldn't just say it? It's easy enough to say if you ask me, just three little words." Meilin said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"If she said it," Funaho replied softly, "That would mean admitting to herself and to him how she felt. When you really mean it, it may be just that much harder to admit. Miss Kinomoto, would you please come with me, I said that I had something to give to the both of you as well."

Kita sat in a large chair, her head hanging over a sink. Miss Li had promised that her gift would be a 'new' Miss Kinomoto. Her long wet hair hung heavy on her head, and as Zima began to cut chunks of it away, Kita became a little uneasy about Miss Li's present.

Meilin danced about in front of three mirrors, marveling at the dress her aunt had given her. She shook her sleeves out for the ten billionth time to listen to the bells jingle merrily. Then, she spun around in circles, letting the very long ends of her kimono type sleeves whirl around her. The entire dress was beige and red, trimmed in gold. The sleeves were the soft beige, almost the same color as her skin, while the chest and stomach were a vibrant red. A yin yang was embroidered across her chest, and Kita smiled wryly at how long the short dress made her legs look.

"Hey, be careful with what you do to my hair," Kita scolded Zima as she watched long lengths of her hair fall to the ground.

Meilin began to laugh, "Oh my Kita, your head looks horrible. Zima, now look what you've done to her head, she won't be able to go outside for weeks."

Funaho sat at a small table in the corner of her room. She looked up from her cup of tea at Meilin's remarks, then glanced quickly at Kita's head. "It is fine, Miss Kinomoto. Zima, take a little more from the front."

Kita didn't get a chance to look at how badly Zima had butchered her hair before Miss Li ushered her off into another side room. This time it was Meilin's turn to wait to see what Kita looked like when she emerged from the same room her aunt had ushered her into earlier.

"There, all done," Funaho smiled at Kita, then spun her around in front of the mirrors in the small room.

Kita stared at herself in the mirror. She didn't look like herself, she admitted, but she didn't look too foreign to herself either. She had had her hair cut short in the past, but nothing had made her feel as comfortable as she did at that moment. She had short bangs in the front, keeping her from hiding her face and green eyes with her hair as she sometimes did. Framing her face were longer chin length pieces of hair, and the back was cut short as well, but layered. She turned about in the mirror, watching her hair, and then again to get a good look at the kimono she wore. It was a rusty orange red color with yellow flowers scattered across it.

"I think I like it, thank you, Miss Li."

Funaho smiled. "It looks very good on you." Of course it does, she thought. It very well may have been yours at one point in time.

Kita went to bed early that night, she felt drained again, but in a different way than when she had first arrived. She had felt something strong looking into that tomb, she had felt sadness, overwhelming sadness, but she could not explain why. And then again, when she had looked at herself in the mirror, she felt something. This time, however, it was something calming, she felt more like herself looking at the way she looked in the mirror then she had any other time she had looked in a mirror.

"I must be going crazy," she said to herself before she pulled the blankets over her head and went to sleep.

Meilin and Zima stayed awake with Miss Li in the dining room. They sat and talked, and every now and then Meilin would ring her tiny bells.

"Aunt Li, I was wondering, how come you always call Kita, Miss Kinomoto. I understand that there is a level of formality you like to keep, but its getting rather old, especially if she will be living with us for a while." Meilin said, staring into her own cup of tea.

Funaho didn't answer for a little bit, she looked like she was thinking what to say, but she was really just trying to figure out how to say it. "Kita is not a name that suits her very well. You know, when her mother first told me that she was pregnant, and the child was a girl, crazy me, I recommended the name Sakura for the girl. But no, her mother would not take my advice, and still, if you ask me, she is more of a Sakura than anything else," Funaho smiled at Meilin with one of her 'I know more than I'm telling' kind of smiles.

"You know, Elda said some strange things to me today." Funaho gave Meilin a curious look, so the young woman continued. "She said I would go on a long journey, a journey that was longer than one anyone has ever taken, and that when I returned, it would all seem like a dream."

"You should not reveal to me all that Elda told you, what she said was for you and you alone. Any journey you take does not really concern me, at the moment at least, but anything more, you should keep to yourself. However, I will suggest that you prepare yourself for any type of long journey, by making short ones. I think you and Kita should go out camping in the forest behind the manor for a couple of days. I hear that there are ruins from very old times out there somewhere, but neither myself nor Zima have ever found them. Perhaps you will be luckier than I."

Meilin nodded in agreement and bounced up from the table. "That's a great idea, Aunt Li. I'll go ask Kita in the morning, I'm sure she will agree, and if not, well then, I'll just have to drag her kicking and screaming along with me."

Funaho and Zima watched Meilin bounce up the stairs and disappear around the corner towards her and Kita's rooms.

"So you have set the wheels in motion as Elda requested of you," Zima said smiling.

"It wasn't Elda this time who asked anything of me. It was the other one who spoke with the three of us, and those two girls have the ability to change things, that she made perfectly clear."

"She will be seeing them very soon you think?"

Funaho nodded. "Sooner than I think they may know."

**Author's note**.

So I figured I would make this at the bottom, just in case anyone really wanted to just skip it, because I mean, who really wants to read ramblings right? Well anyways, this if my first fanfic ever, and I hope you guys like it so far. I have pretty much the whole plot in my head, so it shouldn't be that long until I should get more/ get it all finished. I appreciate your comments very much, and any tips for improvement are also greatly appreciated. And, if you like my story, please recommend it to your friends. Thanks a lot.


	8. Chapter 8

1Chapter 8

Kita tossed and turned in her sleep, she couldn't get comfortable, her mind would not rest. She was caught in the middle of a dream, she felt panicked, but not scared. She ran through the trees, cursing at the branches that snagged at her arms and dress. She the rod in her hand at the branches, but her swatting was futile, the branches still clawed at her. However, she kept running, but towards, she wasn't exactly sure, but she knew, she felt like it was urgent that she got there, and fast.

Please wait for me, please just hang on, she thought to herself as she ran, but still, Kita was unsure as to who or what she was pleading to. The muscles in her legs ached and she cursed all the subways and taxis of the city. Suddenly, Kita felt as though something had grabbed her ankle, and as she fell, she saw the tree root she had tripped over. She slid across the ground as she fell, dragging dead leaves and broken branches across her face and through her hair.

She lay there for a moment, ready to scream, ready to cry, ready to just give in, throw her hands up in the air and just lie there forever. However, something strong pulled at her heart, and she urged herself to her feet.

"Who are you, what do you want from me? Why won't you just leave me alone?" Kita yelled to the forest around her. No one from the forest answered Kita's cries.

Kita sat bolt upright in bed as she heard Meilin outside banging on the door with all her might. Does that girl never quit, Kita thought to herself as the door shook with each blow. Please don't kick it, please don't kick it, was all that Kita could think as the door continued to rattle in its frame as Meilin's fist came down again on the wood.

"If you break that door again, so help me, Meilin." Kita yelled.

Meilin stopped and rattled the door handle. Kita smiled and was glad that she had remembered to lock it before she went to sleep.

"Kita, unlock it please, I promise I won't break the door if you just unlock it."

"And what if I don't unlock it?" Kita yelled back.

"I'll break it again."

Kita jumped up from her bed, throwing the blankets on the floor behind her, and dashed to the door and unlocked it. She glared at Meilin as she opened the door a crack, and prepared to slam it in the other girl's face should she decide to let herself in. However, much to Kita's surprise, Meilin just stood there.

"What do you want?"

Meilin turned and walked halfway down the hall, planning on making Kita follow her for an answer. However, she decided differently and turned around quickly a couple of steps from the stairs. "Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes, I figured I would give you an early warning today." Then, she turned back around and bounced down the stairs.

Kita paused for a minute before closing the door. She thought about what Elda had said about befriending Meilin, or at least, she had assumed Elda had been talking about Meilin. She closed the door softly and sat on her bed, her luggage with her clothes in it spread out on the floor in front of her. She had still been too tired to unpack all of her things, or at least, that was what she told herself. Kita let her thoughts diverge from Meilin and breakfast to her dream, where had she been running, and to who or what had she been pleading to hold on.

"Dreams are dreams, I guess," she tried to convince herself. "They aren't real after all, only figments of my overactive imagination, yeah, that much be it." Feeling a little bit more confident in what she had told herself, Kita dressed quickly for breakfast and dashed down the stairs.

Zima and Meilin were carrying breakfast to the table when Kita made it into the dining room. Miss Li followed them, carrying her teapot and her glass. Kita smiled to herself as she thought of the woman turning into a tea leaf from all the tea she drank. She would probably brew herself, Kita thought. She bit down on her lip to stifle her giggle and her smile and sat down with Meilin and Funaho. Zima excused himself, saying he had already had a bite to eat, and headed to the south end of the manor.

Miss Li sipped her tea slowly, as she was custom to doing, and watched the girls eat over the top of her glass. She looked outside and sighed dramatically. "What a beautiful day it is outside, I'm sure a stroll through the forest would be lovely, but poor me, in my old age I am unable to make such a walk."

Meilin took the overly dramatic hint and perked up. "Yeah, it does look nice outside, maybe we should go out camping for a couple of days, Kita."

Kita studied Meilin carefully, trying to see any sort of evil scheme in what she suggested. Not finding any sort of trickery in Meilin's big brown eyes, Kita sighed and nodded slowly, sure, she would go, even though she had never been in a forest before, let alone camped out in one.

Meilin clapped her hands and smiled. "I knew you would agree, and if you didn't well, I would just have to kick you." Meilin laughed at herself, and Kita noticed that even Funaho was having a hard time hiding her smile behind her glass. Kita didn't think it was that funny.

After breakfast, Kita cornered Meilin in her room and interrogated her about what the big idea was putting her on that spot like that.

Meilin sighed and motioned for Kita to sit on her bed. Reluctantly, Kita sat and looked around the room for the first time. It was simple, pained in the same beige as the kimono she had been given the day before. An intense red canopy over the bed was the only outburst of color in the room. Kita wondered how Meilin could be comfortable in a room like that, it seemed to have no life in it.

"Elda told me that we would go far away." Meilin said, keeping her eyes away from Kita. She pretended to occupy herself with the buns in her hair as she spoke. "She said we would go far far away, and you and I would be the only familiar faces, well at first at least. I thought more and more about it, and I don't really know you, and I know you don't really like me, but I think we need to change that, at least a little. What good is it knowing that the only friendly face is actually an unfriendly one?"

"Where do you think we'll go?" Kita asked, trying to humble herself before Meilin. It took her a lot of effort, but she sounded friendly, and she sounded sincere. Secretly, a part of her hoped it would get easier.

"I don't know where we'll go, or how long we'll be gone, but she said to keep you near and dear, because that will decide if we make it out to see each other on the other side." Meilin turned to Kita and didn't try to avoid the city girl's eyes. "I'll help you pack, come on, let's go to your room."

Kita rose and followed Meilin to her own room. She felt relieved that Meilin had been told some of the same things, and she believed that perhaps they could start to understand each other, or maybe become friends. This is either the beginning of a beautiful friendship, as they say, or it could merely be an uneasy understanding of each other's situation, Kita thought to herself.


	9. Chapter 9

1Chapter 9

Kita wasn't sure if she should be afraid of the forest because of her dream, or because of the wild animals she could hear making noises just beyond every tree. She jumped when she heard birds calling out, she was used to pigeons, and when they went to the beach, sea gulls, but whatever lurked in the forest, she was not used to, and it gave her the creeps. Meilin, however, looked right at home, bouncing along the beaten down paths, or making her own by clamoring through the overgrowth.

"Miss Mother Nature, please wait, or stick to a clear path," Kita whined as she swatted at the bugs hovering about her head.

"Oh, does Miss Pessimism not like trees and bugs and wild animals?" Meilin teased.

Kita frowned while Meilin smiled, but Kita gave up and sighed. "Just don't go and get eaten by a bear or anything, otherwise I won't have a way of knowing how to get back."

Meilin continued to bounce around through the forest until Kita begged her to stop. She was out of breath from trying to keep up, and she was scared out of her wits by the growing darkness as the sun began to set.

"Please can we stop for the night, it's getting dark, and creepy. There, over there is a little bit of a clearing, we should rest there for the night." Kita pointed off to her left, Meilin's right, and tripped her way through the shrubs to the opening. Meilin bounced over the low bushes and rolled onto the grass in the clearing.

When she got up, Meilin looked around her, her eyes wide. They had found themselves in the middle of the ruins of a small village, or at least a few buildings of a small village. The buildings were made of stone, that had once had woven branches for roofs, Meilin assumed. However, now the stones were cracked and slightly crumbling, and the roofs had either blow away or had decomposed. There was a small shrine with a tall stone erected in front of it at the other end of the clearing from where the girls stood.

"This looks like a good place to camp for the night," Kita smiled, proud at herself for finding something more protective than trees and shrubs.

Meilin ignored Kita and made her way over to the shrine. "I think our best bet would be to stay in there for the night," she said absent mindedly, staring at the carvings on the stone. She couldn't make out everything that was inscribed, but she was able to decipher two words, 'Li' and 'Yue'.

Kita was unable to sleep, and to her good fortune, Meilin was not one to go to sleep very early. The two girls sat up and stared into the flames of the small fire they had built at the small steps of the shrine.

"Does the forest really frighten you that much, Kita?" Meilin asked, poking the fire with a stick she had picked up when she hunted for firewood.

"I've never been in a forest before, so I didn't really know what to expect. There's a lot more wildlife here than there is in the city, well, at least there's a lot scarier wildlife here." kita found herself relaxing while she spoke to Meilin. She figured it was the thought of having to spend time with either Meilin or the wild animals, she decided Meilin was the lesser of the two evils. "Why do you think it is that we don't get along so well?" Kita asked, unsure of why she even asked it.

"I don't really know to be honest with you. Perhaps our personalities are just too different for us to get along, or perhaps it could be the way we were raised, or where we were raised. To be honest, it could be just about anything."

"Do you think that perhaps it just wasn't meant to be?"

"No, I don't really believe in that sort of thing. I mean, you can always change things for better of for worse, based upon how you feel, and how you act upon those feelings. I mean, look at the two lovers from the tombs yesterday. Just because she didn't act upon her feelings of love, they weren't buried side by side, they weren't together forever. Perhaps if she would have acted differently, things would have ended up for the better. Right now, I know that I'm tired, so I am making the decision to go to sleep."

Meilin yawned wide and stretched out. She curled up into a ball next to the fire and soon Kita could hear her deep breathing. Kita watched Meilin sleep for a little bit, then she rose frm her spot and exited the small shrine.

She stopped for a moment to look at the tall stone outside of the entrance. She tried to read it as well, and just like Meilin, she could only make out 'Li' and 'Yue'. However, these words seemed to matter so much more to Kita than they did to Meilin. Again, she felt sad, but she also felt regret, and perhaps a little bit of anger. Yue, the word seemed so familiar, the memory seemed right there but wasn't.She felt like she was groping about in the darkness for something she had placed just beyond her reach. Instinctively, she knelt on the steps to the shrine, oh how she felt she had sat like this before, but something was out of place, something was missing. For a long while, Kita just sat, staring from the stone monument to the steps, then to the crackling flame. The flame danced in Kita's eyes and in her mind for a long while. She didn't think of anything in particular, she didn't know what to think. A few tears slid down her cheeks, but she did not stop to wipe them or question their presence. For being so uneasy about being brought into the forest, Kita found it quite easy to relax and let these strange emotions swell inside of her. She felt like she was somewhere else, like she was someone else. As the fire danced and crackled, it soothed Kita in a way she couldn't explain. Kita didn't even notice the fire fading from her eyes, and her eyelids growing heavy until she was caught up in a dream.

The circle of buildings stood around her, bathed in light, but silent as the grave. The leaves on the woven roofs rustled quietly, and even the animals seemed to quiet down for her. The shrine stood before her, but it was not empty, and no tall stone stood before its entrance. A woman with short dark brown hair knelt over a figure lying on the steps. She wore all black, a sleeveless coat with long tails, and short black shorts. Red buckles clasped the coat over her chest, and she wore one thigh high boot, the other was an ankle boot. She wore black bands on both of her legs and arms. A set of long black gloves sat by her side.

"Please, you must understand, it wasn't meant to happen, it was an accident," a voice in her ear cried softly. She felt the brush of feathers on her cheek, but brushed them away bitterly. She stood and watched the woman in black care for the figure on the ground, she was afraid to move closer, she was afraid of what she knew was there.

Kita shifted in her sleep to ease her aching legs and let herself sprawl out across the steps.

Tears flowed down her cheeks, sad, terrified, angry tears. The steps were now empty, except for herself, and the memory of the person who had laid there. Why hadn't she stepped forward, why hadn't she said anything, she asked herself over and over. It didn't matter now, she decided, what mattered was that an injustice had been done, he claimed it was an accident, the woman in black pleaded with her to have mercy, to forgive the accident, but who could forgive and forget death?

Kita awoke with a start and stared at the dying flame. It wasn't something that was missing at all, it was someone, and that someone she had loved very dearly once, a long time ago. She rose shakily, letting the feeling come back to her sleeping legs, and stumbled over to the tall stone monument. She placed her hand over the words on the stone and closed her eyes, trying to draw a picture to her mind, but failing to do so. However, she could remember the names, and she could remember the people. Why she did not know, but they hurt nonetheless.

"Li," she whispered into the dark and silent night. "Syaoran Li."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Kita squinted her eyes at the rays of sunlight that had made it through the leaves of the trees. It was bright, it was warm, and it was keeping her awake. She rolled over, trying to hide her face from the sunlight, but it she couldn't get comfortable. As she lay on the hard stone of the shrine's floor, she wondered how she had gotten comfortable in the first place. She looked over to Meilin who was curled up in a sleeping bag, and thought about getting her own from their pile of stuff, but then decided against it.

Kita rose and stared around her. The small village was no different than it was the evening before when she had first stumbled upon it. At first, Kita had thought her dream to just be make believe, but then she thought about the one she had last night, and the one the night before. They seemed connected somehow, but if they were just make believe, it was all coincidence, wasn't it?

"Kita, how long have you been awake?" Meilin rolled over and called to the city girl.

"Not long, did you sleep all right?" Kita couldn't help but be nice to the girl, she hadn't banged on, or kicked down any doors yet this morning. Kita heard rustling in the bushed behind her and jumped ten feet in the air and screamed.

Meilin smiled as Kita ran back into the shrine. "Relax, Kita, it's only Zima." Meilin pushed past Kita and walked out to greet the darkly clad butler in the middle of the ring of ruined buildings. "How did you find us here, and how come you're here, Zima?"

"Miss Funaho thought I should go check up on you and bring home which ever of you killed the other first," Zima grinned darkly. "Although, seeing as you are both still alive, I guess I should just drop off the breakfast Funaho sent me with and be on my way."

Meilin took the plate from him and smiled. "Auntie does care!" Meilin ran back to the shrine and showed Kita the food before running out back to Zima. "How did you find us?"

Zima stared at Meilin without answering. If it wasn't for his dark shades, Meilin would see him rolling his eyes at her for her constant questions. In fact, he thought, Funaho really cared less that you girls were out here. I just figured that neither of you knew how to cook, and as it turns out, I was right. "Ah, it sure is beautiful outside, fresh air, plenty of trees, history, ghosts, bears." Zima smiled at the squeak that issued from Kita at the word bear. "Oh yes, Miss Kita, bears. They do eat people, you know, you might want to watch out." He slid his shades down his nose a little bit, gave Meilin a 'try not to kill each other until tomorrow morning' look, and headed back off into the trees.

"What's the big idea with him? He acts like part of the family instead of a servant. Did you hear the way he just called Miss Li Funaho?" Kita cautiously left the safety of the shrine and joined Meilin in the clearing.

"He practically is a member of the family. For as long as I have known, members of his family have worked for my family, we don't really remember why anymore, I think it had to do with someone killing someone a long time ago, but im not too sure. I guess somewhere down the line, my family stopped treating his like servants and they kinda became members of the family."

How touching, Kita thought sarcastically as she quickly ate her food. She had decided that she wanted to get out of these ruins as quickly as they could that morning. She would tough out the wilderness for the night if she had to.

"Aunt Li told me about this place a while back, she said that supposedly there were ruins in the forest, but no one had ever really found them. What luck for us to stumble upon them purely by accident." Meilin poked at the cold ashes of the fire, then scraped them off of the steps and onto the grass around the steps. "Supposedly the creek that flows through the grounds of the manor is not too far from here. Although, I do find it odd that when people looked for this place that they just didn't follow the creek for a while. Today I think we should go to the creek, and follow it back here to see how hard it really is to find this place on purpose."

After breakfast, the girls took their belongings with them and left the ruins to look for the creek. They found the creek around midday, the waters were clear, and the creek was about ten feet wide in some areas. The water looked no deeper than three or four feet, so the girls decided to take a dip, since it was getting rather hot outside.

"The water feels great, I'm so glad we finally found it!" Meilin scooped up a handful of water and poured it over her face. The girls had decided to leave their shirts and jeans by the banks so they would have some dry clothes to put on when they were done, and had decided that their underwear would suffice as bathing suits for the time being.

Kita floated in the water for a little while, while Meilin splashed around. More than once she splashed water at Kita who responded with holding the bouncy young woman's head under water, and made her promise not to splash her anymore. However, she did splash her more, no matter how many times she promised, she did it again anyways. After about the third time, Kita began to laugh. It was a stifled chuckle at first, but then gradually, her smile broadened, and she laughed for real. It had been a long time since she had laughed, and it felt good, odd at first, but good overall. For a while, there was silence between the girls, they knew they were warming up to each other, but it was slightly awkward for them both, a couple of days prior to this, they were bickering and breaking down doors.

"Kita, what do you think that is over there?" Meilin waded over to Kita and touched her arm.

Kita sat up and looked over to where Meilin was pointing across the creek from where they were. She squinted, at first she didn't see anything, then, the more she watched, she realized she could make out the outline of a large house set up high in the trees. It was exactly like a house, Kita thought, except the wall that should have been nearest to them was missing.

"Come on, Kita, let's go check it out." Meilin said, wading towards the banks to where they left their clothes.

Kita did not protest in the slightest bit and followed Meilin out of the water. The girls gathered up their clothes and other belongings and waded with them held above their heads to the other side of the creek. There they dried off a little bit and dressed to go check out the tree house.

A flight of wooden stairs wound its way around the trunk of the tree all the way up to the door on the underside of the house. Meilin put her foot on the stairs, they were creaky and old, but they looked like they would hold the girls. Meilin mounted the stairs, keeping one of her hands on the trunk of the tree as they climbed. From inside, the house looked a lot smaller than it had from far away. It was completely empty inside, and the floor was covered with dirt and dead leaves. The girls made their way towards the missing wall, thinking that perhaps it had been blown off in a violent storm a long time ago. However, as the girls looked out the open space and around the sides where the missing wall would have connected with the other sides, they realized that there had ever been a wall there.

"Why would you only build a three sided house?" Meilin said aloud to no one in particular.

"I think we should come back here and stay for the night. It's safely away from anything that may want to hurt us on the ground."

Meilin glanced at Kita. "Stiff afraid that something is going to eat us?"

Kita nodded silently. She wasn't exactly worried about anythign eating her this time. She was more worried about Zima sneaking up on them again, and making her think he was ome sort of bear or something. Up in the treehouse, they would be away from anything too dangerous. Besides, Kita thought to herself, the creek is close enough for us to freshen up in the morning.

The girls stayed relatively close to the tree house for the rest of the afternoon. Mostly, the girls talked, like friends would do, and lounged in the creek. Kita smiled knowing that they hadn't bickered at all since that morning. They were warming up to each other, accepting each other's differences. Kita realized she didn't really mind Meilin's bouncing anymore either.

That night was cold, and Kita hugged her sleeping bad tight around her in front of the fire. They had made it on the ground, a safe distance away from the stairs leading up to the tree house. Meilin rubbed her hands together and held them in front of the fire. It wasn't usually this cold, she had admitted earlier. It was summer, and usually in the forest it was refreshingly cool, even at night it didn't ever get too cold until the fall and winter. Kita watched the flames and shook her head. Why is it that I'm always staring into the flames, she though to herself. Am i expecting to find some sort of answers in the flames, is someone going to pop out from the fire and explain my dreams, what they were and why they felt so realistic? She grinned at herself. She would probably scream and run away if something sprang from the flames.

"I'm cold and tired, I think I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight, Kita, I had fun today. We'll probably head home tomorrow."

Kita watched Meilin shuffle with her sleeping bag up the circular stairs and disappear into the hole in the bottom of the tree house floor.

"I have changed, I think, in the short amount of time I have been here," Kita said softly to herself. She could feel a difference in herself the day she came to the manor. She had been feeling new things all week, when Elda spoke to her, she felt at ease, but on edge at the same time, like her fate was being laid out before her. Kita smiled, she had never believed in fortune telling, but this woman had Kita believing some of it. When Miss Li had showed them the secret room in the manor, she had felt such sadness and familiarity being around all the ancient relics stored there. The tombs, she thought about them. The first tomb, the one of the young man, she had felt such sadness, he had never been housed in the tomb, only the clothes he wore whlie fighting was what was left to represent him. The sword, they had used the sword as a decoration on the front of his tomb. She laughed a the thought of that sword being used as a decoration.

"Oh how he fought, and fought with such spirit." she said softly. Kita had completely lost herself in the thoughts that flooded through her. She spoke words that made no sense whatsoever to her mind, but made perfect sense to her heart. The other tomb had been empty of anything material, but she knew who should lie there, she could feel it in her heart and in her bones. "I should have been by his side, forever and always."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Kita rose from the fire and turned to go up to the tree house to sleep. As she turned, however, she thought she felt someone standing behind her, and froze when she heard a voice.

"My dear," it said, "What are you doing out here this late at night?"

Kita froze, but it wasn't in fear. Everything she had done up to that point had been in fear, fear of something that might hurt her, or something that she didn't know. Now, she stood frozen to the spot, but it wasn't in fear, it was in hope. Kita dropped the sleeping bag as she turned, and frowned when she saw Elda standing in front of her. The witch wore a long dark cloak, clasped at her neck. It billowed around her like a large dark shadow, and the front was slightly open, revealing a black frilled dress, similar to the pink one she wore a couple of days prior.

"What are you doing here, Elda?" Kita asked.

The witch smiled and shook her head. "I told you I would be seeing you very soon, and now here I am. I have come to speak with you, face to face." The woman gracefully sat next to the fire and beckoned Kita to join her.

"You're not Elda, are you?" Kita asked.

The closer Kita got to the woman, the more she realized that it was not Elda without the woman even answering. However, she did have the exact same hair, and the exact same physical features. Her eyes were the exact same color except one aspect. They were filled with dark power. They seemed to glow with all of her knowledge and all of her predictions. When she spoke, her voice was dark as well, and filled with the same power her eyes reflected.

"No, I am not Elda. In a short amount of time, Elda will not exist. There will only be me, and you may call me Freya."

"Freya," Kita's lips formed the name and it felt natural, like she had used the name so many times in the past.

"Everything seems to be coming back to you, slowly but surely. Tell me, Miss Kinomoto, would you find it strange, or be offended if I called you Sakura?"

Kita sat for a moment. "You know, a couple of days ago I was told that Sakura would make a good name for me. Miss Li told me that she had suggested that my mother name me that."

Freya smiled. "Well, Miss Kinomoto, that is because I told Funaho Sakura would suit you well."

Kita stared into the flames some more. Here I go again, she thought sarcastically. "Freya, I have been seeing things in my sleep recently, and I don't know how to explain them. They seem like memories, but I know they're not mine."

Freya's eyes sparkled, Kita had brought them to the topic of interest in a round about way, but in a way nonetheless. "Are you sure they're not yours?"

Kita frowned. "I've lived in the city my entire life, and I have been having dreams about running through the woods searching for someone, and then again, I had a dream about that ruined village. I had never been there until that day, I am sure it's just an overactive imagination."

"Do you really believe that?" Freya urged Kita to think about it harder. She knew the truth, she knew who Kita was, and the purpose for her parents dying, for Funaho taking her in. In truth, there had been no promise between the women, and it was sheer luck that Kita's relatives did not want to take care of her and jumped at the chance to send her away.

"Should I believe that?"

Freya smiled at Kita as softly as she could. "What you have felt these past few days, you know they are real, because how could your heart feel something fake? And your 'dreams' or so you call them, did they feel real? Then how can you say they were fake if they didn't feel that way?" Freya watched the confusion and the thoughts twist themselves out on Kita's face. "Don't you think that perhaps anything is possible?"

"Are you telling me that my dreams are real, that they're memories? My memories?"

"Do you think that they _could_ be your memories?"

"I don't know for sure, can you help me?"

Freya smiled and waved her hands over the fire. The fire flared to life and danced green then back to orange. The forest grew quiet, even the trickling creek seemed to stop flowing.

Kita was uneasy, but not afraid. She stood, looking at Freya, who stared back at her, watching her, as if waiting for something.

Suddenly, Kita became aware of a presence behind her. She went to turn around, but her feet were frozen to the spot, and he head was frozen facing Freya. Her heart raced as the person or thing moved closer to her. She wasn't sure if it was fear that made her heart race, or something else.

"Sakura, my dear," the voice was kinda and gentle. It was the voice she heard before, but it was in her ear, and it was so real she could feel his breath on her ear.

She felt his arms draped themselves over her shoulders, she saw the dark green sleeves, and the smooth pale hands clasp together.

"Where have you been, Sakura? I have been looking for you all over, but I couldn't find you. I kept looking and looking and calling you name, but you were nowhere to be found. I'm happy I found you, I missed you."

Tears welled up in Kita's eyes, and her heart raced faster, but it pained her as well. She wanted to turn around and hold him in her arms, even though she couldn't remember his name at the moment, even though she couldn't remember what he looked like, or how long she had known him. She remembered how much she loved him, and she remembered how much she wanted to be by his side always."

"Freya, can he hear me?" The tears fell freely from Kita's eyes, all she wanted to do was be able to lift her hands and touch his, and she couldn't even do that.

"No, Miss Kinomoto, he cannot hear you. We are in a different time, not his time, not your time."

"I want to hold him," Kita cried, if she had any movement in her legs, she was sure she would fall to her knees at that moment.

"Kita cannot hold him, she does not belong to his time. Sakura can hold him, but not forever, they cannot escape fate, but it can be altered slightly."

"I cannot hold him forever, but can I be by his side?" Kita felt her heart wrench as the green sleeves disappeared from around her neck. She felt herself falling to her knees and buried her face in her hands and wept as soon as she had movement.

"You can be by his side, but Kita cannot."

Kita slowly realized the play on words that Freya was using. She was acting like Kita was another person. And perhaps she was, but perhaps they were both the same person in the end. "I am Kita, aren't I?"

"If that is what you feel, think, and believe, then you are. But remember, Kita cannot hold him, she does not belong to that time, she does not know him or love him. He is nothing to her, is he something to you?"

Freya smiled as Kita wiped her tears. The young woman still stayed on her knees, but stared intently into the fire now. She was thinking, and Freya decided to let her think. There was a lot for her to take in, there was a lot for her to decide. However, the toughest decision still lay ahead of her.

What is he to me, Kita asked herself. She hugged her arms close to her. Her heart had felt so awful when he disappeared, and yet she still could not remember his name. Her dream from the night before seemed so foggy and so far away. She couldn't remember anything in particular from it except that it happened and I confused her.

"Freya, I have a question for you, and I want you to answer me straightly. No tricks, no twists, no mind games. Who am I?"

Kita stared at the woman clad in black intently. There was a fire burning in her eyes, she wanted to know, no, she needed to know. Was she herself, or was she some reincarnation of someone who died a long time ago.

Freya sighed. "Are you sure you want the truth?" Kita nodded and the woman sighed again. "Your purpose in life is to give Sakura another chance at happiness. In short, you are Sakura's reincarnation, Kita is only the name your parents stubbornly chose to give you, hoping it would change the person you are. You see, your parents vaguely knew, I spoke with your mother once, a long time ago, when she and Funaho had been close friends. Your mother chose to ignore my words, and pretended that if she didn't acknowledge that you were anyone but her daughter, then you wouldn't be."

"If I am the reincarnation of Sakura, then where is he? And why can I not remember his name for the life of me?"

"He will not be here in this time, you need to go to him, and go you will. As for his name, stop thinking about it. You know his name, you should not need to try and remember. In the morning, you will see him, and none of this will have happened yet. Meilin will go with you on your journey, she will go to help you make your decision, and she will be there to witness it for herself. When you wake, perhaps this meeting may seem as a fleeting dream, but that is all it will be. Go to sleep now, Sakura, and wake up tomorrow in your own time."

Freya kissed Kita on the forehead and vanished back into the shadows of the forest.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Kita slept for a long time, and she dreamed vivid dreams. She wandered down a dark hallway with locked doors on either side of her. In her hand she held a wand. The headpiece of the wand was an encircled star with snowy white wings emerging from the top. She tapped the locked doors with this wand, and the rusted locks broke free. She looked into the first room, but it was empty, except for a feather. She touched the feather and it disappeared, but she now felt different somehow.

"There were so many things I should have said to him while I had the chance," Kita mused.

She continued down the hallway, opening one door at a time. Inside each room was a single feather, and the more of them she touched, the more different she felt. She talked to herself as she made her way through the darkness.

"Dita said it was an accident, that it was not Yue's fault, nor was it his. Should I have forgiven him, or was I better off sealing him away?"

There seemed to be no way out of the darkened hallway, but there was one final door before her.

"Can I undo all that was done? Can I change the course of history? I would like it to be different, I would like to be happy, for him to be happy, for everyone to be happy, but how can I do that?"

She tapped the door lightly, absorbed in her own outward thinking. The door swung out slowly, it creaked loudly on its hinges, the others had swung silently and quickly. This door opened with great effort, but when it opened, it revealed a jewel far more valuable to Sakura than anything else in the other doors.

She smiled, her green eyes lighting up with joy. Yes, she would make sure she was happy this time. She flung herself into the arms of the emerald clad young man waiting for her behind the door.

"Syaoran!" Kita sat up with a start. She flung the sleeping bag off of her and sprang to her feet.

The sun was warm upon her face as she stared out to the creek some fifty feet away. Was it all a dream, she asked herself. Meilin was just beginning to stir in her sleeping bag on the tree house floor a couple of feet away. Kita looked around the room in the new morning light and frowned. A dresser was shoved in one corner of the room, next to a curtained window, and a neat bed was pushed against the wall opposite the missing one. Various fruits and breads were laid out on a dish in the center of a round table, and Kita suspected they came from the pantry a short distance away from the dresser.

Meilin stood up and looked around her, rubbing the sleep from her eyes to make sure that what she was seeing was real.

"What happened here?" She asked, as much confusion in her voice as Kita felt.

They heard footsteps on the stairs below them and dashed to the hatch in the floor and pulled it up to see who was coming. A short woman with black hair smiled up at them. Her top was fashioned like a coat in the back, and it swept down to her feet. She sported two large red buckles across her chest and stomach, and a pair of rather short black shorts. One of her boots was longer than the other, one went up to her thigh, the other her ankle, and on her bare legs, she wore black bands.

"Ah, you're finally awake. I wasn't sure when the two of you would get up, so I laid out a little bit to eat."

"Dita, how did we get here?" Kita was shocked at her question, and even more shocked that she knew this small woman's name.

"Well, you guys arrived late last night. You introduced your friend, Meilin, to me, then said that you were both ver exhausted from your long journey and asked to stay here for the night instead of crossing the creek and continuing to the village." She turned to Meilin. "You may have been too tired last night to remember, but I am Dita. Any friend of Sakura's is welcome in my home any time, please remember that."

"Sakura?" Meilin asked. Any further questions were cut off, Kita grabbed Meilin's arm and pulled her aside.

"I need to talk to you now, please meet me downstairs."

"Dita, please excuse us, we would like to stay and eat, but we need to be on our way." Kita ducked down the hole and dashed down the stairs.

"Oh, Sakura!" Dita shouted down at the green eyed young woman. "Syaoran has been looking for you, you should stop in and say hi before going anywhere else."

Kita nodded and grabbed Meilin's arm and pulled her all the way to the creek.

"What is going on here? Who is she, and how do you know her? Why did she call you Sakura?" Meilin fired the questions at Kita without pausing for an answer until she was all done.

"She called me Sakura because that is who I am. I have always known Dita, we have been friends for a very long time, every since I came to this part of the country. Meilin, we have traveled back in time, back to my time. You told me that you were told we would go on a very long journey. There could be no longer journey than traveling back in time like we have."

"But what about the city girl? What about Kita?"

Sakura smiled. "Kita was me, me before I remembered who I was."

"So she's gone?"

"You may look at it any way that you choose. For the time being, however, I would like to freshen up in this creek before we wander back into the village."

The water was crisp and cool, but slightly deeper than it was the previous day. Over time, the creek had been made to travel new paths, and had, as a result become more shallow. However, those events had not yet come to pass, so the creek was its original depth.

Sakura looked forward to the journey ahead of them. She didn't know what would happen, but she knew that she would see Syaoran, and that made everything better. She hummed to herself as she dressed and combed her fingers through her short brown hair.

"Good morning, ladies."

Sakura felt the gentle breeze created by flapping wings and smiled at Yue as she turned to face the winged man. His silvery white was tied in a loose ponytail past his waist. He smoothed out the front of his long white shirt. His entire outfit was white, save for various shades of blue trim, and a large blue stone at his chest. Yue walked gracefully on his bare, wrapped feet. As he approached Sakura, Yue let his wings spread out behind him to let the breeze rustle through his feathers.

Sakura smiled, Yue and Dita were complete opposites, Dita clad in darkness and Yue clad in light. They had been living together for as long as Sakura could remember. She supposed it worked out for them simply because they were opposites, yin and yang, she assumed.

Meilin stared in awe at the tall winged man. He was unlike anything she had ever seen or heard of in tales from her aunt. She watched as the winged creature known as Yue and Kita embraced in a friendly hug. He was easily twice her height, if you counted the top of his wings that rose over a foot above his head.

"Sakura, did Dita let you know that Master Li is looking for you? I know he had a question for you regaurding the manor he plans on building for his family. However, I am sure you two will find other things to talk about as well, you should find him as soon as you can."

Sakura turned to Meilin and smiled. "Syaoran has such a short temper, and little patience. We should hurry and find him to see what he wants before he throws a tantrum."

Meilin cocked her head to the side. She had never seen such a happy light side to Kita. But then again, she reminded herself, this wasn't exactly Kita anymore. There was a twinkling joy in her green eyes, and a happy, friendly tone to her voice. She moved and acted like someone who was deeply in love, and who knew the one she loved was in ove with her back. Meilin had to admit that she liked this side of Kita, or Sakura, or whoever the young woman was, a lot better than the cynical, stuck up city girl. It's a shame, Meilin thought, that the two were ill fated.

"Meilin, what do you think Syaoran would want?"

"Perhaps he wants to tell you how much he loves you?' Meilin decided that she would do all in her power to change their ill fate and make sure that the two would be happy, no matter how it affected the future.

Sakura giggled, her eyes sparkling. "Oh Meilin, he has told me many and many times how much he loves me. It is I who cannot tell him the same." Sakura's face became solemn and withdrawn. "I think I am just scared I guess, afraid to admit that I do love him. I mean, I know I do, and he knows I do, or at least, he can tell. But for me to actually tell him would make it official, and I am afraid of what will become of us if things do become 'official'."

Meilin frowned. 'Try not to worry about it so much. As far as I am concerned, if you know it and he knows it, it already is official. But still, I think you should admit it to him, so he can have the joy of hearing those words himself. You should not worry about the future too much, if you stop and contemplate cause and effect, you may loose your opportunity for happiness." Meilin placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "I know we weren't much good of friends before, but I have a feeling that it is going to change. As a friend, my best advice that I can give you is to simply follow your heart. Throw caution to the wind and do what your heart feels is right, and you will be happy."

"Follow my heart?" If I follow my heart, will I find happiness? Should I trust Meilin? Sakura tried to think of reasons Meilin would give her bad advice. Finding none, Sakura smiled some more. "I will follow my heart when the time is right."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Syaoran was handsome, Meilin had to admit. She was slightly upset that his good looks didn't run in the family all the way to her times. His locks of dark brown hair hung lightly in his dark brown eyes. He tapped his foot impatiently as the girls approached, his face was stern, but his eyes sparkled with happiness to see Sakura. The outfit he wore was green, it was identical to the one that Kita had lifted from the stone tomb in the room Funaho had taken them to. Meilin smiled to herself, it most likely _was_ the one that had been in the sarcophagus.

"Sakura, where have you been? I've been looking all over for you. For a little while, I was beginning to think I would have to cut the whole forest down to find you." Syaoran tried to sound upset, but he cracked a gentle smiled at the two girls.

"You wouldn't really kill all the trees just for me, would you?"

Syaoran smiled. "Not all the trees, only until I found you. I've told you before, there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you."

Sakura blushed and stood in awkward silence. She was flattered by his words, but she didn't know how to respond, she never knew how to respond, so she just didn't.

Syaoran brushed off the silence like it was nothing. In fact, it had become like nothing, he was used to the silence to his comments. At first, he had been hurt by them, but over time, he had grown to realize that Sakura just didn't know what to say. She either didn't know, or was too afraid to say it.

"Come on, Sakura, I need your opinion on something. Meilin, would you please come as well?"

Meilin nodded, not knowing how he knew her name. She supposed that she had been introduced 'last night' as Dita had supposedly 'reminded' her that morning. She laughed to herself. They had no idea that last night was many years later.

Syaoran led the woman through the forest paths. Meilin noted that they were lightly paved in stones in some areas, and beaten down dirt paths in others. The paths, whether stone or dirt, were no longer there in her time. The walk was short, much shorter than it was for the girls to find their way into the woods a couple of days previously. They came out of the forest in a large clearing, it was the top of a hill that sloped gently downward to a dirt road below.

Meilin looked around and frowned. She knew where they were, but, something was different, the manor was not there. "Where is the manor?" Meilin accidentally said out loud.

Syaoran studied her with his brown eyes. "I haven't built it yet. I plan on building a nice lovely home, it will be passed down through my family for all time. Sakura, I would like your opinion on the home. Do you think I should build something large and grand, or something small and quaint.

Sakura stared at Syaoran in shock. "Why would you want my opinion?"

The young man smiled at Sakura's naivety. "Because dear Sakura, I want you to live with me in it."

Meilin watched Kita carefully. Her face looked like someone had cut off all of her oxygen all at once. She staggered backwards a little, and resisted as Syaoran rushed forward to steady her. She thought of the tombs in the dark unused room in the manor, and of how they were empty. Sakura was afraid of loving him, it was obvious.

"Are you going to go to the festival tomorrow night?" Meilin heard Syaoran asking them.

"Festival?"

"Yeah, every year, the people of the village gather in the woods to reenact the battle we had to fight to regain our land from those who oppressed us many generations ago." Syaoran smiled at Meilin's confusion. "Many many generations ago, all of this land belonged to my family, and the families of those who had always been here. However, over time, outsiders came to settle on the land. They found us here, and found that all the woods belonged to us, so they attacked us and killed many of our families in the dead of night. For many years, our families lived in oppression from these outsiders who had claimed the land as their own. We pretended to take our servitude and defeat quietly and peacefully, but inside was all turmoil. We bode our time and waited many years, honing our fighting skills, waiting for our population to increase, and we plotted everything down to the last detail in order to take our revenge and wrench our lands back from those who had stolen it from us years before."

"The uprising was a success," Sakura continued for Syaoran. "And the Li family, as well as the other families who had owned the lands gained what was theirs back. The buildings in the woods are the remaining buildings that the families had been forced to live in when they were under servitude. So, every year, at about the same time as the uprising, we reenact it in the center of the Stone Village, as they called it. Of course no one dies, but occaisionally there have been accidents where people have been severely injured."

"They used to have it where the entire town would split in two, one side representing the outsiders, the other representing the families, but more people were injured that way because few were skilled in fighting. Over time that too changed, so now it is just two elected individuals. This year, I am to play the role of those who rose against the outsiders, and Yue will play the role of the outsiders."

Sakura stood in place for a moment and felt herself getting dizzy. She thought she was being pulled through a vacuum for a minute. She felt her breathing quicken, she felt like she was running through a forest, quickly, like she had to get somewhere fast, or it was going to be too late. She heard voices in her head as a darkness began to close in about the corners of her eyes. 'It was an accident, he didn't mean for it to happen' was all she could hear before everything went black.


End file.
